Haunted Houses

Yes, right here in Higley Groves West! There are actually a ton of decorated houses, and many with lights as well, which don't photograph as well during the day, but are fun in the dark. The Mister snapped a few pictures at random for us; remember that you can click on the picture to see it enlarged:














This is my favorite of the pictures he took:



Don't worry about these haunted houses, though, because Gilbert is the safest city around, according to a private research firm.

The bad news is that this is the same research firm that labeled Arizona as the "dumbest" state - a preposterous label, given the choice of data researched - but the good news is that they chose data for this label that is a better match.

At any rate, happy trick-or-treating!

And Happy Birthday, First Cousin!

Long Term Vision

One of the things required to develop a master-planned community is a vision for the long term, and an ability to see the future (at least in theory). Another requirement is the ability to follow through on that vision and bring it to reality. The scale seems huge to us, but the challenges of long term planning on the larger scale of a city are even greater. Today's Republic has an article about Phoenix trying to lure high-wage jobs as they create their newest economic development plan. The explanation begins this way:

Cities and towns want to lure jobs to their communities so their residents can have shorter work commutes. They also want the highest paying jobs, because that increases residents' spending power and boosts city sales-tax revenues.

One of the ways Phoenix and other cities work to attract the companies able to deliver that is through economic-development strategies. Those plans plot the type of industry the city wants to nab and the kinds of commercial shops residents want in their neighborhoods, and addresses how to create a trained and educated workforce that would entice businesses.

Of course every city wants the high paying jobs; in Morrison Ranch, we want the high paying jobs nearby so our residents have a short commute. Landing those companies, however, requires some forethought and diligence. The article explains it this way:

Barry Broome, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, said economic success hinges on getting far ahead of development.

"The great community predicts market interest," Broome said. "By the time a project is in the market, if a city has to do the planning, they're too late."

He said that if city planners want to see corporate headquarters in their downtowns, they have to have the right environment before the opportunity lands at the city's doorstep.

Even as local government works to attract new businesses, the decisions about where to open up shop are still driven by corporate executives.

Broome said that where cities have control is in the ease of moving a business into the city. That involves the ability to deliver permits, usually in less than 90 days, having infrastructure in place for city services and using incentive programs.

"If they come, they're not going to wait for the city to do the planning," Broome said. "There is much competition for companies; you have to treat them like customers."

This reinforces what I was trying to say last week; one of the reasons we asked for a 75 foot height allowance on our industrial buildings is so that we are poised at the ready for those high paying jobs to locate in Morrison Ranch. There was an article last week about the need for "wet labs" in the Phoenix area, with the implication that if some developers would just build one, the city could snag a company in a heartbeat. To build one without a lease in place, however, would be economic suicide for that developer. The city needs to have the infrastructure and the planning in place, as well as the willingness to permit the facility in a timely manner; and then the market can follow its course and the research labs or whatever can be built. The planning and zoning process that we just completed is in Mesa, of course; but every city in the metro area has a similar goal of attractive employers setting up shop in their city.

Every city also has a planning board like the one mentioned in the article; we have the Gilbert Economic Development Board. The Mister has been on this board for several years, and their function is to advise the town council and the staff on economic development issues concerning the town. It is sort of like the businessmen and the town government collaborating on what might be best for Gilbert's economic future. It seems like it's been pretty successful so far. There's a proverb that says, "where there is no vision, the people perish." Sounds right to me.

Second Only to Spring

Fall, that is. When the rye grass is in, and the leaves are still green, and the temperatures are so nice for being outside, this is pretty hard to beat.



I had a midmorning snack from In the Raw at the oasis with my two oldest daughters this morning. That is the kind of thing we designed the place to encourage. It was pretty special for me!

Multiple Choice

Am I: a)Really committed to the learning process, and therefore willing to attend every class that comes along b)really committed to my daughter's wedding earlier this year, having pushed every other responsibility -including continuing professional education - to the end months of 2006 or c)in dire need of the sleep that only comes with deep discussions of tax law?

Whichever choice you make, I'll be joining about 400 other CPAs today to discuss the nuances of tax law. At the top of the list will no doubt be the Pension Protection Act of 2006 - 900 pages of new law. Congress does its best to ensure a full-employment economy for accountants.

See you Monday.

In the News Again

Last Friday I posted a quick summary of the Mesa Planning and Zoning board's approval of our industrial site. If you have no life and therefore pay attention to such things, you will have read that this was a marathon meeting (and I thought the Gilbert meetings were long!) extending until past midnight. Thankfully, The Mister was about 4th in line and was able to finish up by about 8:30. The approval of the residential portion was last month and met with enthusiastic approval.
I have noticed a couple of articles about the other cases presented to the board last Thursday night, but today the article focuses on Desert Place:

Mesa's tallest industrial buildings may be headed for a site north of Williams Gateway Airport.

At 75 feet, the five-story structures would exceed height limits for industrial districts but could provide the type of space required for small research companies, developer Scott Morrison said Wednesday.

The plan will go before the City Council next month with the city Planning and Zoning Board's recommendation for approval.

Board members during an Oct. 19 hearing praised the project's design and Morrison's goal to attract tenants such as high-tech firms and the badly needed high-paying jobs they represent.

"I'm still trying to wrap my arms around this . . . and the fact that Mr. Morrison is progressive enough to think that a high-tech type of facility would interest (tenants), particularly here in Mesa," board member Pat Esparza said at the session.

The city's planning staff also embraced the development, except for the building height, which would be an 85 percent increase to the limit.

"We weren't comfortable with that," Jennifer Gniffke, a staff planner, told board members. She said the staff would be more comfortable with a 50-foot height.

The buildings would be in an 800-acre industrial master-planned subdivision on the northwestern corner of Elliot and Sossaman roads, two miles north of the airport.

The site is near another Morrison project that won City Council approval this month - a 200-acre residential community with trees and an agricultural theme.

Airport officials have not had time to study the industrial building proposal, airport spokesman Brian Sexton said Wednesday.

Morrison said he would also file a report with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Planning and Zoning Board member Frank Mizner voted for the project's approval but said he was concerned that it could set a precedent for building heights in the area.

Morrison said Wednesday that the authority to build taller structures would pave the way for construction of facilities that such firms as biotech companies need to conduct research.

I've said before that I am always surprised to see The Mister's name in the newspaper - or any brothers or cousins in our generation, for that matter - because that place of notoriety has always been occupied by my father-in-law. And then there is the issue with the label or title describing him. Developer. It seems to have a negative connotation, bearing no relationship to my dear husband. After all, he doesn't go looking to buy property and then develop it. He just changes the face of the property that the family already owns. In my mind, he will always be a farmer whose last crop is a community instead of alfalfa.

The article itself pretty accurately describes the meeting; most of the discussion centered on building height. This doesn't mean that all the buildings in the site (at Elliot and Sossaman) will be five stories, but the option is there for that unique occupant that might be a research facility or the like, and need that space. We believe that the way to woo the companies that offer those high-paying jobs is to be at the ready with the required facilities. If someone wants a research facility and we have to say, "sure, just let us get planning and zoning approval," they very likely will move on to the next option that is ready and waiting. The Mister encouraged the board to come look at Morrison Ranch and see the care that we put into our residential and commercial areas, convincing them that we aren't going to stick a sore-thumb of a building into our office park. Well, he convinced all but one, anyway.

The board's overall approval is great, and now it's on to the city council for approval, which generally accepts the recommendations of planning and zoning. I'm betting that the planning and zoning board member who voted no will change their mind once they see Desert Place go up.

Lakes and Lights

I've posted with this headline before; at that time, I was happy with the progress on the Highland Groves lakes and unhappy with the palm lights on the corner of Higley and Elliot. This time I'm sad to say, the headline bodes the frustrating type of news.

Concerning the fountains at the Highland Groves lakes: the parts came in for the south lake fountain, were installed, and immediately blew out again (speaking metaphorically; I don't know what happens technically, just that it doesn't work). The contractor is pulling his hair out, and I do believe that if he misses any, The Water Expert will help him finish the job. The next step is unsure, but we aren't giving up.

And as for the lights on the tanks: delay after delay to get the power going. Bias For Action is working this problem diligently, so I'm sure he'll run it to ground ( that's a little electrical metaphor/pun, I think). The Mister did warn me that even when the tanks get lit, they will go off again for a bit while the power lines that run next to them are buried.

When problems like these come up, it is very tempting to blame and belittle the folks doing (or not doing, as the case may be) the work. And to be honest, we do get aggravated. The end goal, of course, is to finish the job, pay the contractor a timely and appropriate fee, and move on to the next project. Throwing a tantrum usually doesn't do much to advance the cause; being a squeaky wheel is more effective.

I'm thankful that The Water Expert and Bias For Action are squeaking away on these two issues. I'm just saying, if you see no progress, don't blame them.

Work Along Higley Road

We've had a couple of questions about what is going on along Higley... is "something going in there?" Well, not in the sense of new houses or retail stores; but right next to the Morrison Brothers Ranch office, just south of the Farm Bureau building, these men are hard at work installing a drain:


You may remember that behind this office we used to have corrals from a feedlot - maybe you even remember seeing the steers - and we have removed those corrals. Our farm foreman is getting ready to plant alfalfa, but the new extension to the field doesn't drain properly. The obvious statement "water always runs downhill" becomes even more obvious when irrigating a field. So now the water will go where it is directed.

The other "project" along Higley Road, even farther south from this picture, is indicated by stakes with little green flags on them (so little that my picture of them is nearly indecipherable and therefore unpublished). These stakes mark where our contractor will be installing a sewer line for Lakeview Trails North, the community currently under construction along Elliot Road up to Recker. They do not indicate any potential building along Higley Road at this time.

About Those Basketball Hoops...

A resident of Highland Groves emailed me last week to ask about the naked poles on the playcourts. He was very gracious in his question as he asked why there are poles but no baskets, allowing that there might be a logical reason. Sometimes logic never rears its head in the process of building a community; but here's the answer in this case.

First, the grass around the playcourts had just been installed, and the landscapers didn't want to encourage any traffic on the new turf.

Secondly, the installer's insurance company restricted the completion of the hoops; once the HOA has "accepted" the court, then the HOA's insurance becomes responsible and the hoops can be installed. "Is that right?" you may ask, and I would use one of my father's answers, "Well, I don't know if it's right, but it's true." Logic is not one of my strengths.

The further answer to this question is that the grass is established, and the HOA is near (if it hasn't already) acceptance of the courts, so the hoops should be atop the poles soon. Just in time for the start of basketball season.

Easy Money

Last week I recounted a story about a thief trying to steal a generator at Highland Groves. By the way, that generator is now gone, and I am pretty sure that the electricity has been hooked up to the relocated boxes; one hesitates to say something for certain in this business without checking first, but it was in the process of happening on Thursday, so I assume it was completed.

But yesterday's East Valley Tribune has an article about the copper theft; it's a long article, but it instructs us on the problem:

Copper theft surged when industrial growth in China sent metal prices soaring, reaching $3.56 per pound on Monday. The surge in market value has criminals striking everything that contains the now precious metal that’s found in homes, water meters, streetlights, power boxes and air conditioners.

Crooks sell the heisted metal to scrap yards, where it fetches prices ranging from $1.10 to $2.70 a pound, depending on the quality of the copper and location of the recycler. Eventually, the scrap is resold to brokerage companies and smelters.

As I mentioned earlier, the builders are not at all surprised when copper is stolen and they have to start over on that part of a house. It is widespread in every city that has construction, including our fair town:

Miscreants in Gilbert are stealing spools of wire from commercial areas and construction sites, using ladders to scale fences and blowtorches to break into storage units, detective Sgt. David Meyer said of his town.

Gilbert has had a rash of copper thefts that have stripped homes and commercial and industrial sites. Since January, there have been more than 230 copper thefts, Meyer said.

That's a good word - miscreant - which means villain. It never ceases to amaze me how villainous we humans can be toward one another, without regard for the consequences to our fellow man. The article mentions that the profile of some copper thieves is a meth addict; but I know that others are some of the blue collar workers thinking that the builders (in many cases their employer!) can afford the loss, and besides, they don't get paid enough anyway. Ironically, (since we are talking metals here, no pun intended) the thefts prod the purchase price of the houses up, boosting them out of the reach of these very thieves.

At any rate, the problem persists, and the builders and law enforcement agencies (and even the scrap metal companies, according to this article) collaborate to stem the tide; if residents see any suspicious activity, it would be helpful if that got reported, as well.

Positive With a Capital P

The Mister emerged from his meeting with Mesa's Planning and Zoning board feeling very positive. They approved the plans for the industrial site of The Desert Place at Morrison Ranch. It was not unanimous this time; one member was uncomfortable with proposing that some buildings could attain the height of 75 feet, but the 4-1 vote to approve will now go to the city council as a positive recommendation for approval in about 3 weeks. At about the same time comes the approval process for the preliminary plat, which only needs the okay of the Planning and Zoning Board; this will open the door to individual industrial users to start plans. And that's the anatomy of the process.

Negative

Dictionary.com has 32 definitions for negative. Thankfully, it also has 32 definitions for positive. This seems like a good balance.

I am married to a man who is an optimist, among other positive traits. I don't want to stereotype all accountants as those who keep track of things in their ledgers, focusing on the niggling details rather than the larger vision. But I do tend to lean in that direction. The marriage to him has been fortuitous for me, as his optimism has rubbed the edges off some of my negative outlooks. But while he's off to a meeting today, I feel an overwhelming urge to share a few negatives (mostly because as I pondered doing a Ranch Roundup today, my progress meter was at about zero), as in Dictionary.com's definition number one:

1.expressing or containing negation or denial: a negative response to the question.

The question is "What's Happening with...?"

The Albertson's building
Nothing that we know of; we had heard that some grocers were offering to buy it, but haven't heard a thing since then. Not a peep from Albertson's themselves.

Zone Cafe
No updates; last I heard they were in the process of getting the town permits for their tenant improvements.

Other tenants in Lakeview Village
The process has slowed to a crawl until the Albertson's building gets settled.

Lights on the Tanks
Bias For Action told me last week that there was a problem with the exchange of plans to SRP to fire up the electricity. His joking about having the lights on for Christmas is sounding less like a joke and more like a hope.

Highland Groves South Lake Fountain
The Water Expert says that the contractor has ordered a new pump for the fountain, which has yet to arrive.

The Paperless Office
Don't ask.

The meeting today is with the Mesa Planning and Zoning commission to get their recommendation on our industrial site at Sossaman and Elliot (The Desert Place at Morrison Ranch). You may remember that the P&Z were very positive about the residential plans for that area. Positive, as in Dictionary.com's definition number one:

1.explicitly stated, stipulated, or expressed: a positive acceptance of the agreement.

The explicit statement was a vote of unanimous approval. Aren't you glad that The Mister is presenting the project to them instead of me?

Highland Groves Turf and Boxes

The sod continues to roll at Highland Groves; or unroll, to be more accurate. The installation of the grass this week has been around the north lake. Here is a shot with the fountain on, looking at the ramadas.


If you click on the picture to enlarge it and look very closely, you will notice water on the concrete under the ramada. Sigh. It was very windy yesterday when The Mister took this picture, but that just emphasizes the need to install a sensor similar to the one on the big fountain at Lakeview Village that will turn the fountain off when it gets too windy.

In the "It always takes longer and costs more" category, the picture below may seem uninteresting, but actually has a story:



This may look like a backhoe and a hole in the ground, but it is really The Mister sighing in relief. A bit of background is in order.

When we lay out a community, we set up the streets, the house lots, the open spaces, the trees and fences, and certain requirements for different aspects of the community, such as house elevations. Our engineers then design the technical plans, but, frankly, there is no way to put every detail on just one plan. So there are layers and layers of plans; one for the streets, one for lighting, one for landscaping, and so on. Each contractor or sub-contractor gets the plan that he needs, but not the other plans. When it comes time to do the electrical plans, SRP won't allow the developer to design the plan. SRP receives the plan with the roads and the rights of way, and then they design their electrical plan in whatever manner they see fit. To be fair, the individuals responsible for the design and installation are generally amenable to working with the developer; but the system as set up does not lend itself to cooperation. In this case, SRP was unaware of the sidewalk coming through because it isn't in the right of way. No problem, the box just sits on the sidewalk and people can go around; or the sidewalks can be moved to go around the box. The Mister was not happy with this conclusion. You may remember that he is the chief of negotiators, which involves compromise; there are some things (like removal of trees) on which he won't budge. But the aesthetics of this sidewalk issue required intervention, and the picture above is the result.

But wait, there's more.

Since the grass and trees are planted and need to be watered via the electrical controllers (and the residents of Highland Groves know what a long process that has been), while the boxes are being moved, electricity must be available. Hence the presence of a generator to run said controllers.

But wait, there's more.

Theft on construction sites is nothing new, and sadly, the builders factor that into their costs. Even more somber is the thought that those costs get passed on to the homeowners in the form of higher prices on the house. Copper is the main prize, along with the programmable thermostats. But a generator, sitting on a trailer, ripe for the picking; that would be a fabulous haul! It's costing us $7,000 to rent it for a few days; its loss would not only mean a loss of money, but damage to the grass and trees. So the need for a security person seemed obvious.

Sure enough, two nights ago, in the middle of the night, a semi-tractor with no trailer approached the generator with its lights off. When our 24-hour security guard flashed his spotlight at the vehicle, the trucker escaped without the opportunity to get the license plates. But the generator - and the grass and the trees - were saved for another day.

Hopefully, the work will be completed tomorrow.

Desert Place Approved!

Our newest neighborhood was approved by the Mesa City Council last night. It will be over a year before the land looks any different. Time for one more corn crop, probably. Then the graders will show up there, too. These are invisible milestones for the most part, but it is gratifying to me that staff and elected officials approve of what we are doing.

Continuing Education

No posting today, as I'm off to continue my education. Today's topic is one I actually like, using spreadsheets for financial purposes...

See you tomorrow.

Slipping the Surly Bonds

A very long time ago (or was it just yesterday?!), The Mister and I spent much of our time and energy out at Williams Air Force Base, which is now Williams Gateway, and the home of ASU Polytechnic as well as some other businesses. We were mostly involved with the base chapel, as civilians; but it didn't hurt that The Mister has been hooked on aviation since his youth, and there were plenty of airplanes and pilots and flying stories, and so some lifelong friendships were formed during those years. The Mister often quips, "When you go into a room full of people, how do you know which ones are pilots? Just wait ten minutes and they'll tell you!" That's another way of saying that pilots are a special breed.

One of the things that we were privileged to be a part of was the graduation ceremonies for the young officers getting their wings. We would dress up, go to the theater, have a long ceremony, and then go to the Officer's club for food. During that ceremony, there would inevitably be the video clip of an airplane, set to music, while the narrator read the famous poem by John Magee, that starts like this:

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew --

It always made me cry, and probably would still today if I saw it.

There's an article in today's East Valley Tribune about the chance for some EVIT youngsters to get their pilot's licenses; what a great opportunity for those students.

I bring all this up because many folks have been asking The Mister for his theory of what happened to Cory Lidle and his instructor in New York last week. They ask because they know The Mister is a pilot (see joke above) and they ask because they know that The Mister flies a similar plane to the one that crashed. Mr. Lidle's model was the Cirrus SR-20 and The Mister and The Water Expert co-own an Cirrus SR-22. Here's a closeup of The Mister with the then-newly purchased plane, and the instructor that helped fly it back to Arizona:




The unique thing about this plane is that is has a parachute; not for the occupants to wear, but for the entire airplane. There's a big red handle on the ceiling between the pilot and front passenger's seats that, when pulled, blows a chute out of the top of the airplane right behined the back passenger seats, and lets the entire craft float down to the ground. In the nine times that parachutes on Cirrus aircraft been deployed in various situations, the occupants have almost always walked away unhurt (excluding the pilot who died of a heart attack, thus causing the passengers to pull the handle).

So what happened in New York? Well, there's an excellent article in Popular Mechanics here, written by a pilot who traversed the same route as Cory Lidle. He explains better than I ever could about the class B airspace and the corridor that they were flying. No one really knows at this point (although The Mister is fairly certain that the NTSB will have an exact answer in several months- their investigations would put CSI to shame) what happened when the plane got to end of the corridor, but since they didn't have permission to cross the class B airspace, it seems logical that they tried to pull a U-turn in a tight space. The Mister surmises that they likely stalled as they did this (and here I must insert the explanation that whenever you read the word "stall" in a story about an airplane, please don't confuse that with the stalling of a car engine. It does NOT mean that the engine stops; it means that the wing stops flying due to the angle, causing the airplane to drop down out of the sky) and then confusion ensued for a critical 3 or 4 seconds. Perhaps the instructor was waiting for Mr. Lidle to recover (since he was now pilot in command as well as owner of the aircrafte), or perhaps Mr. Lidle was waiting for his instructor to recover from the stall (as the instructor had kept him safe all through flight training), and when neither did they were already below the 400 foot minimum to deploy the chute, and perhaps even in a spin, though that's less sure; but it was too late at that point. That's The Mister's theory. He agrees wholeheartedly with the Popular Mechanics pilot's conclusion, though:

Some people who aren’t pilots don’t understand why some of us risk our lives for what seems to be a pointless thrill. For them, the logical course of action would be to shut down the VFR flyway to prevent more deaths. But pilots see things differently. To us, flying is a great privilege that, yes, carries a certain amount of inherent risk. But living in the presence of danger and accepting responsibility for it is one of the things that makes life meaningful. We don’t want to live in a world that’s foolproof and accident-free. We want one where prudence and respect can be rewarded with an indescribable freedom—a freedom that too few people are lucky enough to enjoy.

The appropriate response to the death of Lidle and Stanger is not to ban similar flights. It’s for fellow pilots to study what happened, learn from it, and go on to be safer flyers.

It seems ironic that we heard about this crash as we were finishing lunch out at Williams Gateway airport. The First Cousin was craving their gyro sandwich, and the pilots in the office don't mind looking at airplanes while eating, so there we were.

"And speaking of flying..."- the phrase used in our office to introduce any number of mundane details about the topic - you might be surprised at how a family of farmers can contain so many pilots. For The Mister, it started when he was a youngster hanging over the back of his couch watching crop dusters fly over his house through the window. He got his pilot's license when he was 17. His older brother was a Navy pilot. There are some uncles and great-uncles who are pilots. Two recent converts to the love of flying are The Water Expert, and Bias For Action's wife, who got their tickets to fly in the last few years and months, respectively. It seems to me that flying really gets under the skin of some folks; it becomes a passion, you might say. That's why they resonate with Magee's poem. Here are the last few lines:

And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

And to answer your question, yes; I got my pilot's license right after The Mister and I got married.

The Hard Work of Citizenship

Dictionary.com defines citizenship as:

1.	the state of being vested with the rights, privileges, and duties of a citizen.

2.	the character of an individual viewed as a member of society; behavior in terms of the duties, obligations, and functions of a citizen: an award for good citizenship.

Since we are vested with the rights, privileges and duties of citizenship, our character should reflect the obligations and functions of a citizen. I'm speaking of voting, of course. How could I not be, at this time of the year when my senses are assailed by a barrage of signs, phone calls, and direct mail? I am so over it, to quote the teenaged vernacular. And yet...

One of the AZ Republic's blog-writers has a cute title to his post today:

DON'T VOTE!

says Vic Linuff; and he continues in this vein:

Now that Early Voting has begun political ads are on the increase pummeling us into senselessness.

Along with the all the mind-numbing ads, signs and talk radio ranting, is the campaign to actually get us to vote.

Well I am here to offer this advice: DON’T VOTE!!!!

That’s right I am actually recommending that you don’t vote. Unless…

Unless you take the considerable time necessary to study the ponderous 2-volume, 326- page encyclopedia of information sent to every registered voter ─ Publicity Pamphlet Ballot Propositions & Judicial Performance Review Voter and the Citizens Clean Elections Commission 2006 Statewide & Legislative Candidate Statements.

He goes on to say that an uninformed vote is worse than no vote at all. I guess that's debatable, as some of his commenters do; but his point about the time required to wade through the information is well-taken. Who has the time to spend figuring that out? And yet...

I wanted to do a Roundup on the Ranch post today, updating you on the progress (or lack thereof) of various projects happening around Morrison Ranch. After all, our cattle ranch in Cottonwood is doing roundup this weekend, and that would be a nice tie-in. And yet...

And yet, The Mister spent 2 or 3 hours earlier this week poring over the voter guides, and fully informing himself (and thus me) about all 19 propositions. Did you know there are 50 judges on the ballot, seeking to be retained? Are you aware that, apart from the races for well-known positions such as governor, there are scads of relatively unknown positions for which to vote (including Richard Morrison for CAWCD!) such as the East Valley Institute for Technology?

The obligations of citizenship can be daunting! I think those obligations are worth it, though, being the unabashed patriot that I am. The Mister and I have our mail-in ballots, and have marked up the voter guides with our "answers", so all that remains is to fill them in and get them mailed. Armed with his vast research, The Mister is a great resource now if you want to use his answer for any part of the ballot.

Besides, maybe next week will hold more actual progress around Morrison Ranch; that's better blogging, anyway.

What You Will Never See in Morrison Ranch

Click on the picture above to view it in full size... The Mister and I were in Indianapolis over the weekend for a wedding, and when we saw this building, we had to memorialize it with a camera because there are just no words to describe it.

There is a new building in Gilbert (which I will neither memorialize nor locate, as discretion seems the better part of valor) that evokes a similar response as the one we have to this building, only on a lesser scale. The Sixth Man comments, "That building can't decide what it wants to be." This office building in Indy has a pronounced identity crisis.

One of the reasons I bring this up is because our office has been working very diligently to enter a partnership with some folks that will help us with our industrial sites in Morrison Ranch. The contract is near signing, after a long engagement period, and there are already industrial users inquiring about the sites, so that phase of Morrison Ranch is gearing up for action.

But I promise that our buildings will fit in with the Morrison Ranch theme, as well as offer functional workspace. Not at all like the picture above.

Yummy

We did end up at Joe's Farm Grill yesterday, and it was quite delicious. The weather was perfect. The AZ Republic wrote up a nice article on it:

Residents who attended the Tuesday opening of Joe's Farm Grill broke bread with owner Joe Johnston and his family as they celebrated the first business day of their newest food endeavor.

Within a couple of hours of opening, Johnston said roughly 150 people had enjoyed an item off their American food menu. There were rave reviews on the menu that includes fresh-grilled farm burgers and crispy sweet potato fries, said Johnston, whose personal favorite is the Portobello mushroom sandwich.

Read the rest of the article to get a sense of the picnic atmosphere. It actually did have the feel of a family reunion in a park, with lots of folks who knew each other, asking one another what was good on the menu, picking out a picnic table in a shady spot - of which there were plenty - and lots of laughter and kids running around.

Let me just say that while it looked like there are plenty of items on the menu that might fit under Weight Watchers' core plan (I don't want to be one of those fat and stressed people), there were too many things not WW to tempt, and I admit succumbing. The Mister loved the sweet potato fries, having suffered a dearth of sweet potatoes in his married life, and the onion rings were rather phenomenal. The Sixth Man pronounced his chocolate shake very well done and delicious.

Joe and Cindy Johnston were warm and friendly, as always (does that guy ever get flustered? I've never seen it) and the staff were prepared and handling the crowds with ease. Tad Peelen, one of the other owners, told us that they had served about 1,000 people one day last week, just to get the servers and cooks ready. Once they had served that many, the 300 to 400 they would get yesterday would be a piece of cake. And so it seemed.

Joe is a natural restaurateur, and so I had high expectations. They were not disappointed.

I Surrender

Someone once said something like "never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel." (I actually tried to find the original source of that quote and failed, even with all the powers of Google and the internet; a Lane Kirkland was credited on one site, but I don't trust it as the original. But I know you've heard the quote.) In the age of the computer, the quote might refer to pixels instead of ink.

Whatever. I give up. Both local newspapers rehash the same old topic with the same old tsk-tsking and the same old head-shaking: Home sales are down, prices are down. Sellers are discouraged, especially those who bought homes as investments. All hope is lost.

Their mind is made up, and I can't change it; so I'm going to ignore it. I refuse to read their thoughts on the housing market anymore.

Thinking About Lunch

Our office is rather loosely organized. There is no real "boss" per se; though most of us secretly suspect that The Mister is the boss. He has unique skills, some might say legendary skills, of negotiating - whether with humans or machinery. Pretty much each one of us in the office at some point or another has turned to him in frustration, with a computer that won't do what it ought, or a printer, or a vehicle or any other type of machine; he looks at it, ponders for a moment, pushes a button or just engages in the function that the frustrated operator just tried (or sometimes, legend has it, he just waves his hand over the malfunctioning item), and voila! - it works perfectly. He can do this with people, as well. If one of us is overly frustrated with some detail that has gone wrong - "how hard can it be to do it right the first time?!" - he applies reason and compassion and thinking the best of folks to the situation, and soon the frustrated person is calm. But I'm talking about lunch, and so I digress.

The point I am trying to make is that we all set our own schedules; everyone has work to do, and various deadlines, but each of us pretty much decides what hours to keep. The First Cousin and I, however, always manage to be around the office when it's time to go to lunch. It's our favorite part of the day. So when I read this ominous headline in the AZ Republic today, it gave me pause:

Workers fat, overstressed, survey says

I did read the article; here are a couple of paragraphs:

Will your boss start telling you to eat your vegetables, go to bed at a decent hour and chill out?

Arizona employees are overweight and overstressed, according to a statewide survey of 3,500 workers released Monday by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona.

Yikes! Are they talking about me? They didn't say what weight guidelines they used to determine who was fat and who was not; and they seemed to use number of hours of sleep to determine who was stressed. But I hope the health community (or insurers) aren't trying to shut down our favorite time of day; or alternatively, make us wallow in guilt unless we abstain from all mexican food. But I found the loophole; it is only the EMPLOYEES in Arizona that are fat and stressed; in our office we are all bosses, not employees. Whew, that was close.

Should we try Joe's Farm Grill today or Oregano's? They both have their grand openings today:

Joe's Farm Grill

The restaurant will sell burgers, chicken, pizza and more cooked on an open flame grill. The restaurant at 3000 E. Ray Road in the Agritopia community will use organic food grown on the family's Agritopia farm for cooking, Johnston said.

"I think people want to eat healthier," he said. "If you start to examine the trends they want their flavor, but they want it as wholesome as they can."

Joe's Farm Grill is in the Johnston family's old home. Two years ago, Johnston said, he and his wife moved to a new home in Agritopia. His parents and his youngest brother, and his family, also live in Agritopia.

"I'm a person who really thinks that proximity of family and friends is a big deal," he said.

Oregano's Pizza Bistro

Gilbert's Oregano's will be the company's eighth in Arizona. There won't be much different about the Gilbert pizzeria, owner Mark Russell said.

"We're trying to make sure our formula is transferred properly," Russell said.

While not much will change, the Gilbert Oregano's will be the second to have a separate take-out kitchen. But that won't open until around Nov. 1. An outdoor dining area will connect it to the restaurant at 328 N. Gilbert Road.

"All of our locations currently, we experience a huge take-out volume - waiting up to two and three hours for pizzas sometimes," Russell said. "We're trying to think ahead this time."

Tough choice.

Endorsing the New Guy

The AZ Republic puts out its endorsements of various candidates; I usually make up my mind about my candidates using other information. But there are some positions that feel so obscure, and that seem so difficult to get information concerning the contenders, that I turn to these endorsements for facts. If you feel the same way, especially about the Central Arizona Water Conservation District board, let me pass on one of their selections (someone I DO have information about, since he's my brother-in-law):

With minimal (if any) paid advertising, low name identification, and a very long ballot full of federal and state candidates and complex propositions, the CAWCD board election easily could fly well below the radar screen.

It must not, because this board's responsibilities affect every one of us.

The Republic's Editorial Board interviewed all 12 candidates in three sessions. We believe four incumbents deserve re-election. We also believe that there should be some new blood to energize discussions and challenge the staff.

Here are our recommendations:

Of the challengers, Richard Morrison displayed the most extensive knowledge of the issues, honed from his years in agriculture, teaching law and working with the CAWCD board in a professional capacity. His familiarity with the Arizona Water Bank, contractual obligations of the district and groundwater storage issues would enable him to hit the ground running. Morrison also would bring a lawyer's reasoning skills to the board and he comes from the East Valley, a region underrepresented on the board. We strongly recommend Morrison's election.

Read the rest of the article for the incumbents that they recommend retaining; but please vote for Richard for sure, and tell at least one other person to do the same. If you need more information on him, visit his website here. Thanks.

Fall is Here

Yesterday saw a trace of rain sprinkled in with a whole lot of wind, but by the evening, the weather was perfect. I was outside grilling, and I heard the clank of an aluminum bat on a ball, and some young voices interspersed with adult voices. We have a viewing deck (one of our friends named it our hailing wall, because The Mister likes to hail the neighbors as they walk by) that looks out over the greenbelt on the western edge of Higley Groves West. This was my view from that deck last evening:



I really enjoyed watching the girls practice their softball techniques; I enjoyed listening to the banter and joking from the parents as they sat in their lawn chairs to the left. I looked to the right to see another group of small fry setting up a soccer goal and cones, and starting their practice. And I was grateful once again to see the outworking of a vision; it warmed my heart.

Of course my meat and vegetables were getting overdone on the grill (The Mister doesn't grill, and I don't either, at least not very well; but I keep trying), so I turned back to the view in my own Sherwood Forest:



My newlywed daughter always teases me about commenting on the soothing beauty of our back yard, but I just can't help it.

Softball, rye grass, cool weather, and grilling. Yep, fall is here.

Housing in the News

You have no doubt heard me complain from time to time that the newspapers are zealous in their pursuit of the doom and gloom scenario for the housing market. They didn't seem quite as ebullient in their coverage of the frantic runup in the market. "Frantic" or "frenzied" is the word I see most often used to describe that ascent, as the writers look back. There is the age-old question of how much the coverage -exaggerated or muted - influences the populace, but that isn't the topic for a neighborly chat. Rather, I think we ought to talk about where we are in the housing market and what the future portends.

Being an accountant, I prefer to talk in numbers; I love charts and graphs (if you must have pictures), and just the facts laid out. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that my favorite "dead-tree" source of news is the Wall Street Journal (although, frankly, I actually read the online version of the WSJ). This is a subscription-only version, so I can't link to the source, but today's WSJ presents a balanced, number-laden article on the housing market. This is based on a study done by a research firm in PA called Moody's economy.com; the study makes some predictions about the decline of median prices, when the market peaked in various cities and when it will hit bottom in those cities. This is a tricky area to predict, and the author admits that, which is refreshing. Here are a few salient paragraphs(I won't put in the graphs and numbers - I've learned over the years that not everyone enjoys those the same way I do; I don't know what gave me the clue - folks' eyes glazing over, or maybe when they would just walk away in mid-conversation...):

Buyers and sellers can use forecasts from Economy.com and others for guidance as they try to figure out how to play this tricky market. But because the reports don't agree on which markets will be the weakest or how severe the slump will be, they could also be left scratching their heads.

While various studies generally agree that some of the biggest risks of declines are in California and Florida, there are striking differences, reflecting different forecasting methods. For instance, a recent "risk index" study published by PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. ranks the Boston metro area as the seventh-riskiest in the nation in terms of the likelihood of price declines over the next two years. But Economy.com says that home prices in Boston likely bottomed out in this year's third quarter after a modest 2.2% decline.

No study, of course, can tell exactly how bad the market will get or when it will hit bottom. Even if accurate, a prediction for a metro area won't hold true for all neighborhoods or all types of housing.

The good news, according to Economy.com's chief economist, Mark Zandi, is that the current downturn so far looks more like a correction than a crash on a national scale, slowing economic growth but not tipping the economy into a recession. The bad news is that falling prices could be very painful for some people who have bought homes near peak levels over the past year or so in such areas as California, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Washington, D.C., and the coastal Northeast.

Housing markets in most of these areas began turning down about a year ago after prices more than doubled in many cities during a frantic five-year buying spree. It still isn't clear how hard the landing will be.

The results of this study for the Phoenix market indicate that we hit our peak in the first quarter of 2006 and might not bottom out until the second quarter of 2008. The Mister, as well as our residential broker, strongly disagree with this assessment. They see signs of things turning around already, and expect to see the market on solid footing within 6 months - in Phoenix, of course, not nationally. The Mister's comment was that the study doesn't understand the Phoenix market, which is a little different from others. What factors were used in this study to come to these conclusions?

Economy.com based its price forecasts on a broad range of factors including demographic trends, job markets, mortgage rates, lending standards, construction costs and limits on land development. Mr. Zandi says the economic model doesn't take into account the supply of previously occupied homes available for sale because there aren't enough reliable data on that nationwide.

Previously occupied homes influence our market as much as demographic trends, in my opinion; that's a vital piece of information to leave out of the study. Our market was buoyed by the influx of investors, but they didn't get as strong a foothold in the Phoenix market as they did in the Las Vegas market, and therefore their departure didn't hit our market as hard as the market in Las Vegas.

Bringing the view even closer than the Phoenix market, Gilbert has seen housing sales slow, both in new homes and in re-sales. And even closer, you will notice many more For Sale signs in front yards of homes in Morrison Ranch - staying up longer - than a year ago. Folks are adjusting their expectations to match the market ("oh darn, if I'd sold a year ago, I'd have doubled my money!" has given way to "I've lowered the price again, now I only expect a 45% profit") and once again starting to look at houses as a place to live and raise a family rather than as a quick-turning investment. In my opinion, this is - as the WSJ says in the paragraphs above - a correction, not a crash. I am sorry for my neighbors who have had to move and are experiencing delay in selling their houses. Over the long run for those of us still living here, it is better for our community that homes are valued at a reasonable price (appreciating, of course!), available to those folks who value the neighborly feel and want to live here.

I think we're special, both in the Phoenix market and in Morrison Ranch. There's no denying the decrease in the housing market; but in the long run this will be the basis for a healthier market.

Do remember that you are listening to the opining of a middle-aged woman sitting on her front porch with a cup of coffee (okay, I'm actually at my desk behind the computer, but you know what I mean). Not a realtor. Nor even a statistician. Definitely not a reporter. But I do hang out with folks that are smarter than me in this area; and this is my take on the situation.

More coffee?

Watching Grass Grow

My sister was in town briefly, down from Montana; and she mentioned that she visits my front porch fairly faithfully to keep up on what's happening. She is, of course, looking for the family news tidbits, and doesn't find the posts on grass growing and such quite as meaningful. And I have to admit, if you don't live in Highland Groves (or work in our office) the thought of watching grass grow does sound kind of boring. But if you live in Highland Groves (or work in our office), here is a very exciting picture of the aforementioned turf, springing up along Park Avenue:


This is the last bit of Park to get the grass; the controllers for the electricity finally made the grade. The sod will keep rolling, until all the common areas are covered. Highland Groves is greening up!

Smoky

No, not the bear... I'm talking about the hay fire out on Ray Road, between Recker and Power. The Republic has an article on it's suspicious origins:

Gilbert Fire Department is investigating the cause of a suspicious fire that destroyed 36 tons of hay Sunday.

The fire started about 4 p.m. and crews were still tending to the fire late Monday morning after allowing it to burn itself out, fire department officials said. No one was injured.

The fire, on Ray Road between Power and Recker roads, was in an area that has been hit with a series of nine suspicious fires over an 11-month period from July 2005 to June.

David Zehring, a Gilbert fire investigator, said the hay fire might be related based on its proximity, though no clear links to previous fires have been established.

And the East Valley Tribune has one as well:

Smoke from a hay fire that could last for days is drifting into nearby homes, said Division Chief Mark Smith of the Gilbert Fire Department.

Smith said firefighters used a frontend loader to break apart the approximately 100 bails of hay and they have sprayed a special foam on the fire to cut down on the smoke, but there isn't much more they can do about it.

"It will smolder for days and days and days," Smith said.

...

Smith said it is unknown how the fire started.

He said radio traffic mentioned that two teenagers were seen running from the area, but hay bails also have a tendency to spontaneously combust.

This is the smoke I'm talking about. The Mister says that hay fires are pretty much impossible to put out. The water can't get to the embers underneath, because the ash of the hay insulates them. Our farm green-chops all its hay now (a big machine comes through chopping the hay into little pieces and then it immediately gets picked up and sent to the dairy for either feeding the cows right now or some time in a silage pit) but when we used to bale the hay (which, conversely to green chopping, requires the cut hay to lay in the field for a time to dry out before being baled for storage), there would be one or two fires due to spontaneous combustion - out of hundreds of stacks. So, not to point too stern a finger, but odds are that this one was set.

Maybe the perpetrators live in the neighborhood that is getting smoked. Small comfort for the other residents.

Family History

Kudos to AZ Republic reporter Angela Pancrazio. She got it right. Various folks in the family have been interviewed for various reasons over the years, and usually there is some inaccuracy reported, sometimes small, sometimes huge. Angela spent about two and a half hours in our office with The Mister and his mother; she also drove up to Cottonwood and spent time with The First Cousin's brother; and she drove around the area and took pictures and video. The article she wrote is accurate. It's a long one, so I won't take up your time with my musings today. Be sure to look at the slideshow as well as the video clip (their links are on the right side of the online article under the word "related").

Here's the link. Read it all.